Recordpub.com - School official calls graffiti a 'heinous' hate crime

By Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

The perpetrators of what one school official dubbed a "heinous" hate crime -- a break-in and the spraying of racial graffiti on the walls of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent -- were able to get away without notice because the school's alarm system had not been working, a gathering of Kent residents was told Tuesday.

However, a $1,000 reward from an anonymous donor available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of at least two of the vandals may lead Kent police to solve the crime very shortly, Roosevelt High School principal Roger Sidoti said Tuesday. The vandals, which could include up to three people, were caught on school surveillance video carrying paint cans and walking toward the school between 1:30 and 2 a.m. March 15.

"We're hoping an arrest is imminent," Sidoti said as he shared this information with more than 100 Kent residents, educators, parents and concerned members of the Kent community who gathered at the school for what turned from a parent forum into a community forum.

Racist graffiti and Confederate flags painted on interior walls and lockers at the school was discovered at 6:15 a.m. March 15, Sidoti said. A teacher's personal laptop computer also was stolen. Kent police were called and initiated an investigation, he said.

Sidoti said work on the school last spring resulted in "subdividing" the building into two zones controlled by two different security panels, leaving the sector of the school where the incident occurred "uncovered all school year" by security measures. Those problems now have been remedied, he said.

Because of the disruptions Thursday, a day when students were taking their Ohio Graduation Tests, 87 students also will be forced to retake the science section of the test, one Ohio high school seniors must pass in order to graduate.

More than 90 students also were interviewed and help from other students and the police to track down rumors of threats on the MySpace.com Web site of violence against Kent students, particularly African-American students, allegedly to occur on March 16, Sidoti said.

So far those rumors are unfounded, as school officials have yet to find any of the alleged threats online, he noted. Additionally, teachers now will be trained to deal with racially-motivated incidents through staff development training to start April 5, Sidoti said.

"We've had emotional damage done to our kids because of some idiots who did what they did," he said. "Our African-American students were assaulted. We need to model that we're not going to be intimidated by that kind of hate."

Forum moderator Geraldine Hayes Nelson, and associate dean of undergraduate studies at Kent State University and parent of a Roosevelt student, said she hoped the community could use the forum to help "teach tolerance."

Kent and Portage County's African-American community and leaders were planning a meeting on the incident before school leaders announced their intention to hold Tuesday's forum, she said.

"In 2007, we should not, I should not have to worry about my child's safety in a high school setting," Hayes Nelson said, becoming visibly upset. "I can't even describe the feeling ... I was fearful for my son."

Edra Frazier said she kept her daughter out of school Monday morning because of last week's threats. She said the incident was "ignorance."

"I really feel sorry for the people who did it because they are the epitome of what they did," she said.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Kent police at (330) 673-7732.